Encouragement and effortMost of us experience ups and downs, but most of us realize that the downs are temporary. Somewhere along the way, we learned that if we picked ourselves back up, dusted ourselves off and tried again, possibly in a different way, then the outcome would be different. It might have been a parent, a teacher, a neighbor, older sibling or grandparent, but at some point during our formative years, someone taught us that our positive actions could an...

About race, politics and liesAmong the many painful ironies in the current racial turmoil is that communities scattered across the country were disrupted by riots and looting because of the demonstrable lie that Michael Brown was shot in the back by a white policeman in Missouri — but there was not nearly as much turmoil created by the demonstrable fact that a fleeing black man was shot dead by a white policeman in South Carolina. Totally ignored was the fact that a black...

Unruly Britain electionsLONDON — They called it “Question Time,” borrowing the term from the prime minister’s weekly appearance in the House of Commons, but this was surprisingly and refreshingly different. On Thursday, the three main candidates for prime minister — David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg — one by one appeared before an audience of voters at the Leeds Town Hall where for a half-hour voters asked them informed, pointed and detailed questions. The ho...

Ex-con: How to close revolving doorBefore this past legislative session, legislators were asked to consider building a $100 million prison, but nobody really wanted to do that. The state already housed more than 18,000 inmates, including a backlog of 2,500 in county jails, and a new prison would add only 1,000 beds. Forty-three percent of inmates released from prison return within three years, anyway. As soon as the new prison was finished, another would have to be built. Other...

We are what we believe we are: Beliefs and outcomesAccording to C.S. Lewis, “We are what we believe we are.” If he is correct, then it raises this question: Do our beliefs on where we fit in among the economic classes create a self-fulfilling prophecy, and, if so, can downgrading our beliefs change our economic outcomes? We all know from experience that beliefs and outcomes can be mutually reinforcing, in positive and negative ways. The trainer who helped me get into the best shape of my life ...

Courage needed more than task forcesAnother task force has been formed to study ways to address the lack of highway funding in Arkansas, and you can bet that it will produce nothing new. The bottom line, as always, will be: The state needs more revenue to maintain its highways. And the answer, as always, will be: We don’t want to pay for it. Instead, let’s wait for Congress to give us more money. Good luck with that. Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued an executive order last week, creat...

Options limited for governor's highway panelLITTLE ROCK — By creating a working group of education leaders, business owners, legislators and highway officials to come up with solutions for Arkansas’ road funding woes, Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he wants to find consensus on a long-running problem for the state. But with few options beyond raising taxes or tapping into general revenue, middle ground will be difficult to find. The 20-member panel the Republican governor announced last week ...

Kicking off codingLITTLE ROCK — In 1993, doors opened at the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts in downtown Hot Springs. One of its required courses from the very beginning was computer science. Or as its current director, Corey Alderdice, says, “computer science was baked into the school.” Back then, it was rare for any school to have a computer lab or Internet access, much less offer a credited class on computer coding. Today, the Hot Spri...

Broadband in public schoolsLITTLE ROCK — All bids have been awarded to telecommunications contractors and work is set to begin this summer on an ambitious statewide project to enhance broadband capacity in Arkansas public schools. The goal is to provide Internet access that will not only meet national standards but also exceed them so that Arkansas schools can plan improvements in technology offerings far into the future. In some schools, Internet access will be 200 tim...

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State Capitol Week in ReviewThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

State parks important to our historyLITTLE ROCK — Did you know the number of visits to state parks across the country more than doubles the number of visits to national parks? There are over 8,000 state parks across the country which bring in 720 million visitors a year. More than 50 of those parks are right here in Arkansas. As the summer months approach, it’s a perfect time to remind you about the treasures right here in our backyard. The state parks of Arkansas have played im...

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State House of RepresentativesThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

We must all learn to live togetherCONWAY — Dr. Martin Luther King, a man I truly respect, once said, “All people in this world are tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” In our nation today, the forces of good and evil are locked into a battle for the hearts and minds of our citizens, and who wins the battle will determine whether we remain a civilized society or deteriorate into anarchy and lawlessness. Now that is prett...

Until the court do us part?In 2 1/2 hours of oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday, Justice Anthony Kennedy asked the right question: whether it is appropriate for the Court to discard a definition of marriage that “has been with us for millennia,” adding, “it’s very difficult for the court to say, ‘Oh, well, we know better.’ “ Kennedy, who is regarded as the swing vote on this and many other controversial issues, may not answer his own question the way p...

Seek first to understandThe fifth of Dr. Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Could that apply to politics, even today? Covey taught that being understood is such a fundamental need that it is impossible to influence another person until that need has been met. He compared it to air: Remove it from a room, and nothing else would matter to the occupants. Unfortunately, understanding is in short...

Anti-trust law and lawlessnessWe all make mistakes and some of us learn from them. What is even better is to learn from other people’s mistakes, where they pay for those mistakes while we learn free of charge. Many Americans who say that we should learn from other people, especially Europeans, mean that we should imitate what they did. That may make those who talk this way feel superior to other Americans. But let us never forget that the most disastrous ideologies of the ...

Little Rock ordinance faces uncertain futureLITTLE ROCK — A Little Rock ordinance prohibiting the city and its vendors from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity doesn’t just open the door to a legal challenge over an Arkansas law criticized as anti-gay. It also provides other cities interested in expanding anti-discrimination protections a new argument to do so. With no discussion, Little Rock’s city board voted last week to ban discrimination against lesbian, g...

Revised ASU plan gains approvalAdvocates of an Arkansas State University initiative to establish an osteopathic medical school on its Jonesboro campus have been saying for months, both publicly and privately, that the effort is on schedule. They maintained their confidence even after the national Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation last September rejected the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine’s first application to open a second si...

Click hereLITTLE ROCK — Wednesday was our 100th day in office and, by happy coincidence, it was the day we rolled out our new website. If you haven’t visited it, please do. You’re going to like it. You should — because you helped to create it. Just by being in Arkansas, you’ve made our new website distinctive. When you visit our new site and allow for geo-locating, the images on the home page will represent your city, your county, your special corner of...

Legislative session finally overLITTLE ROCK — After a 19-day recess, the legislature officially ended the 2015 regular session on Wednesday, when it completed a few housekeeping measures and adjourned sine die. The legislative session began on Jan. 12 and lasted until April 2, when lawmakers finished business. The recess allowed time for proofing and processing the 1,289 bills that became acts. In all, 2,063 were introduced this year. When the legislature adjourns sine die, ...

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State Capitol Week in ReviewThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Service to the state not overLITTLE ROCK — This week we convened in the Chamber for a brief time to officially adjourn for the 90th Regular Session. Although the pace of our work will be slowing down, we are far from completing our service to the state. Now begins what we refer to as the interim. A total 114 bills from this session were referred to interim study. Topics for interim study include everything from taxing e-cigarettes to expanding the use of telemedicine in t...

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State House of RepresentativesThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Success is a lonely businessCONWAY — Inspiration is a wonderful thing, and sometimes I receive mine in the most unusual places. A few weeks ago I left home early one morning to talk with some community leaders in the nearby town of Heber Springs about starting a Bookcase for Every Child project. After talking with some wonderful people there, I headed on up the road to visit with folks in Mountain View, about 35 miles north. This is really a unique community, with histor...